Palin to Andrea Mitchell: ‘You’re not listening to me’

Reporters go 'up next to the fish' in the 'surreal' world of flyover country.

Gov. Sarah Palin granted interviews to the legacy media yesterday, and each outlet added its own spin to its presentation of the story. One thing is obvious from watching the various videos and reading the stories: they don’t get it. Palin had to scold NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, for instance. “You’re not listening to me,” she admonished the ditzy reporter after Mitchell asked the governor a question she had already answered.

The Palins’ commercial fishing business requires them to be on the water at the peak of the salmon run, which occurs each year around the 4th of July. The media hacks were clearly out of their element, one reporter describing the experience of being with real people while they are doing real work as “surreal.” From the safe cocoon of the New York studio, Diane Sawyer thanked ABC correspondent Kate Snow in Alaska, “Thanks so much for going up next to the fish,” to get the interview. During the interview, Snow pointed out to Palin: “You have some fish guts on you.” Yes, Kate, that tends to happen to people who work on commercial fishing boats. Flyover country is an alien planet, and those of us who live in it are extraterrestrials to the chattering class. They are still looking for their first clue and not even getting warm.

Video of the Mitchell interview is here, CNN here and ABC here. Write-ups of more interviews by Fox Newshere, TIME magazine here and the Anchorage Daily News here.

Update 1: Via e-mail from Jim Trotter, another example of how out of touch the chatterati are, from today’s round of Palin interviews:

From the TIME Article – the set up the reporter uses to describe the scene:

“The other is a smoke shack for fish. Their catch of the day is hanging from a clothing line strung from the shack to a tree. The driveway is littered with boots, gray-and-red-tipped fishing socks, waders, scooters, tricycles and a green yoga ball with bunny ears for kids to bounce on.”

Green Yoga Ball? How out of touch with America is this reporter that they have never seen this particular toy before? Are you kidding me? And how does an editor miss this?

“Many commentator’s on Sarah Palin’s remark that ‘politically speaking — if I die, I die. So be it’ would not recognize the allusion or context of ‘And if not’ – neither its use at Dunkirk nor its Biblical reference.

By way of explanation, a FReeper posted this from a Chuck Colson commentary:

One of the most dramatic moments of the Second World War occurred when the British army was helplessly stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk. It turned out to be one of England’s finest hours-and, oddly enough, a telling illustration of the urgent need for Christian apologetics in our day. The time was June 1940 and the place was Dunkirk. The British Expeditionary Force, sent to stem the Nazi advance into Belgium and France, had been pushed steadily back to the sea. A pall fell over England. Hitler’s armies were poised to destroy the cornered Allied army. As the British people waited anxiously, a three-word message was transmitted from the besieged army at Dunkirk: “And if not.” The British recognized instantly what the message meant: “Even if we are not rescued from Hitler’s army, we will stand strong and unbowed.” “And if not” was found in the Book of Daniel, where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego defied Nebuchadnezzar, putting their trust in God The message galvanized the British people. Thousands of boats set out across the Channel in a gallant bid to rescue their army. And they succeeded.

But that was England, a believing nation that no longer exists. In its place we have the U.K., a tiny island lost in the wilderness of secularism. Palin supporters see the resignation as her Dunkirk. Stranded in the governor’s office, she is effecting her own rescue. But they have no doubt that she will amass a much larger fighting force and hit the beaches at a time which is to her advantage.

The governor had probably looked to the example of Esther (4:16) for courage in making her decision to resign, or perhaps Ruth or Daniel or all three. But her biblical reference went right over the heads of the media types, which should come as no surprise. Our once fiercely independent Fourth Estate, like that tiny island, has lost its way.